Stand and Fight!
by Grumpywinter
Summary: Jaune Arc lived up to the promise of his warrior heritage and attends the combat school of Beacon, watch as he grows into the legend his family has been famous for. !StrongJaune.
1. Chapter 1

**So this has been an idea I have been mulling over for the past couple of months, I have been a major fan of RWBY since the show premiered last year at RTX and knew one day I had to eventually write something for it, and then I saw Jaune Arc. **

**This was someone I could write about! Though I had an issue with his lack of skill, given his family's reputation of having given birth to and trained legendary warriors and skilled fighters, so I thought I would have Jaune be part of that tradition.**

**Now I won't make him a badass Gary Stu if I can help it, I love his bumbling lost personality regards to interacting with people so I will try my best to keep that, but he will not be a meek victim to be bullied by little shits like Cardin Winchester. Anyway that's enough of me taking up your time, enjoy the story!**

(Enter the Arc)

Jaune looked up at the Dust ship that came to collect the chosen students from his school, the elite few that had been qualified to attend the legendary Beacon Academy where only the best of the best were allowed to attend and train their skills to the next level. He still couldn't believe he had been given an invitation, despite the praise he was given from his teachers and peers at his skills with the sword and shield he was given to use as was the tradition with his family dating back to his great-great-grandfather during The War. He personally felt they were hand me downs than actual heirlooms to inherit as the Heir to the Arc Legacy as his father and mother told him.

Looking down in thought as he let his mind wander back to when he was given the weapons he decided that he would have to learn how to use them well, his parents would not give him a moment of respite until he spent at least five hours a day training in the use of the weapons. He personally didn't care to fight as he preferred the calmer things in life like cooking and music to the chaotic violence of combat. But he wasn't given the choice; his father took him aside one day and told him he had a legacy to uphold for the family being the only child of the family, Jaune wanted to make his father proud and told him he would do everything he could to make it so. Since then he had done all he could to make it so but he never felt his skill was good enough to make his father happy.

"Your heart isn't in it, son." Was what he told him after every training session, with disappointment growing each time he told him until one day Jaune arrived home from work at the local Dust shop to find all his belongings packed and at the door with a car waiting for him. His parents had decided that he had learned all he could from them and had filled out paperwork for him to attend the local academy.

He hadn't seen them since then, he assumed that they were ashamed of him and just had sent him away to get rid of him or that they couldn't afford to have him live with them anymore, being a family that had a history of producing famous Huntresses and Huntsman didn't exactly earn them a living. He turned down the chance to craft his own weapon like the rest of his peers did preferring to rely on his sword and shield Crocea Mors as was his family's tradition. It earned him the disdain of his fellow students who dubbed him lazy and outright idiotic. After the first year he showed them all he was better than they thought, having beaten many students in the training fields as they relied heavily on their long range capabilities, their fire arms rendered useless by his shield. He was broken from his musings as the plane landed and the students began to board, after putting his belongings in the cargo hold with the others he went to the upper levels and watched the aircraft rise up, feeling a lurching feeling in his stomach as it ascended into the air.

He passed by a teenage girl who wore a tan vest with gold piping over a yellow, low-cut crop top with a black crest that resembled a burning heart with black shorts under her belt, and had an orange scarf around her neck talking to another younger girl wearing a red and black hooded dress and skirt. He considered going to making conversation with them but felt the plane dip forward and felt the food he had for lunch stirring in his stomach. Running over to the nearest trash can he could find he opened his mouth and vomited loudly, after he was certain he had no food left in him Jaune wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and shook his head.

"I hate flying…." He groaned before coughing roughly as someone clapped him on the back.

"Are you ok?" He heard a girl's voice, the one in the red and black he saw earlier was looking at him with some concern in her silver eyes.

"Yeah, just some motion sickness." He said trying to put on a smile.

"Jaune Arc." He said choosing to use the hand he didn't wipe the puke residue off with to hold out to the younger girl. She took it and smiled before speaking.

"Ruby Rose." She said before the blond girl from earlier came over to them. "And this is my big sister Yang. Yang this is Jaune Arc."

"Hey." She said with a nod of her head looking at him with a close eye. Jaune nodded back. "So do you always throw up on planes?"

"Heh, not always?" He offered weakly. "I just have don't like flying in big metal containers filled with explosives." He said referring to the Dust that powered the aircraft. Yang tilted her head at that with a curios expression.

"When you put it like that it sounds were on a flying death trap!" Ruby said sounding slightly panicked, with impressive speed she began zipping from window to window and from one end of the plane to the other. Her older sister sighed.

"Ruby what are you doing?" The red streak stopped in its tracks to respond.

"I just remembered this one movie where this Grimm that only one man could see was trying to bring down a plane by ripping stuff out of the turbines." Watching her dart back and forth was causing Jaune's stomach to churn once more,

"It was just a movie and I think you're making him si-" The sound of the Arc family heir loosing even more of his lunch cut her off.

"Thanks." Jaune said taking the bottled water from Yang; she then offered him a pack of crackers. He hesitated about the food but guessed it'd be rude to decline.

"Aren't crackers and water what you're supposed to do for stomach sickness?" Yang asked, as Ruby was being talked to by a stewardess after trying to get into the cockpit to check for Grimmlins. Yang shrugged, the younger sister opted to enjoy the inflight movie.

Nibbling the crackers between gulps of water Jaune started to feel a little better. He glanced at the two sisters and finally noticed that they didn't look anything a like.

"Oh Ruby's my half-sister if you want to be technical about it." Yang explained when Jaune commented on the lack of familial resemblance.

"Really? Does she know?" Jaune swore her eyes were now red,

"No, she just grew up with a different last name and looks nothing like me...Of course she does!" Beneath the sarcasm in her voice Jaune was sure he heard anger.

_"Guess I struck a nerve, "does she know?" God I'm an idiot"_ Jaune thought as he tried to diffuse the tension to the best of his ability, "Sorry, I grew up as a single child in my family. Wish I had someone to grow up with." The blond seemed to calm down and seemed like she was to say something before a familiar red blur appeared at her side.

"The movie's boring Yang let's go find out where our room is! I need to get some rest." Ruby said abruptly as she appeared behind the taller blond and grabbed her older sister by the arm before abruptly dragging her away, Ruby waving at Jaune as she pulled Yang away saying she was hoping to see him again making Jaune chuckle. Deciding to do the same he went to where he knew his room was supposed to be having gotten the information when he went to put his luggage away.

After a few moments of walking up and down the hallways of the plane he found his room and took out his stereo and turned it on, letting the music put him to sleep.

He didn't know how long he was asleep when the door suddenly opened and Yang walked in.

"Hi, yes please come in." Jaune muttered with sarcasm causing Yang to perk up and look at him with a sheepish smile.

"Sorry, just wanted to know the name of this song." She said in apology.

"Most people can knock… what song is it?" He commented groggily with a raised eyebrow.

"After Dark by Tito and the Tarantulas. And don't worry Jaune, we know each other so well." Yang answered with a wide smile. Jaune looked up and decided to change the conversation a bit.

"So, why are you going to Beacon?" He asked, Yang put down his stereo and sat down in his chair before answering him.

"I just want to be a better fighter." She said gesturing to the yellow gauntlets on her wrists. Jaune looked closely at them as she activated them letting the weapon cover the majority of her hands and the entirety of her forearms.

"Ember Celica." She said proudly showing off the fully deployed version of her weapons.

"Very nice!" Jaune complimented, "What do they do?"

"I load them with dust to fire explosive shells, I can do distance shots but I like being close to pack the extra punch into it!" She said with a bright smile. Jaune nodded in understanding at the weapon's capabilities before going to his suitcase and pulling out Crocea Mors.

"A sword?" Yang asked with curiosity deactivating her weapon to let Jaune activate his, and he could see her eyes show some interest at his sheath turning into a shield with no obvious other enhancements.

"Crocea Mors has been in my family since The War, I wanted to try and engineer a gun into the shield but my father said I have to keep it in its original form. For tradition." He said with disappointment. Yang smiled sheepishly at how much her weapon outclassed his.

"Well classics are good. I'm sure you have to be pretty good with that sword." She said, trying to turn the conversation away from his family and toward the weapon itself.

"People say I am, but honestly I don't think I am that great." Yang laughed before patting him on the shoulder.

"You should be more confident! If people are always telling you are good you should listen to them some time." She said before giving him a playful shake and heading out of his room. "Well we are near Beacon so I guess I better get Ruby up. Looking forward to seeing you on the ground." Yang finished with a wave before leaving his room and shutting the door behind her.

A few hours Jaune grunted and climbed out of bed to stretch before putting Crocea Mors on his belt and donning his armor. His mother always did tell him about making good first impressions so looking like the warrior he wanted to be was a must. He was glad he remembered his motion sickness pills as he was able to walk around the room with ease and looking out the window to see the airplane was descending at a rapid rate.

"Beacon here I come." He said under his breath when the plane touched ground. Getting up and grabbing his suitcase he walked out into the hall and saw all the other students doing the same as they prepared to disembark. He strode down the way to the exit following the mob of his fellow students, keeping his eyes open for Ruby and Yang, some people he knew would be a nice change from being by himself the rest of the day.

He was looking for them so intently he almost ran into a smaller girl dressed in all white as a group of men carried dozens of suitcases behind her.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" He said as he tried offered an apology, the girl looked at him with disdain until she spotted his family crest on his armor plate.

"Is that the Arc crest?" She asked with visible surprise.

"Yes it is." Jaune said before holding his hand out to the white haired girl. "Jaune Arc, at your service!" He said with a grin.

She reluctantly took his hand to shake it, as if it was something new to her. "Weiss Schnee."

"Pleasure to meet you." He said as they let go of each other's hands. "Are you excited to be at Beacon?" he asked as the two of them started to walk toward the main building.

"Yes, I am very excited." Weiss answered in an even tone that made Jaune doubt her statement before she headed in a different direction. "I look forward to seeing you again in the future Jaune; I have always wanted to meet a member of the famous Arc family." Weiss said before she and her luggage carrying helpers all vanished into the crowd. Jaune watched them disappear before walking forward to the massive castle like school. He already made a friend in Yang he was sure, though he didn't talk to Weiss much he would like to think they got off on the right foot. He was starting to turn around again having gotten separated from the crowd when he saw Ruby calling out for her older sister.

"Ruby!" He called out as he made his way over to her. Ruby turned around to face him and smiled.

"Oh hey vomit-boy!" Jaune sighed and let his shoulders sag; he hoped she forgot about that…. Ruby picked up on this and quickly apologized profusely to him; Jaune shrugged it off and waved her apologies aside with a small smile.

"So, are you trying to find the main hall?" Jaune asked trying to change the subject to something else. "I heard the head of the school will be giving a speech to all the new students this year."

"I heard that too! I just can't find where it's supposed to be." Jaune didn't know either but didn't want to come off as lost.

"I think it's over in that direction." He said pointing toward the large tower in the distance. Part of him hoping he was right so he didn't look like a fool as he and Ruby walked over that way in hopes of making it for the speech soon.

They found the space just as Yang arrived with some other friends she made, Ruby stomped off over to her sister with as much an angry expression as she could muster leaving Jaune alone in the hall.

"I'll keep this brief." He said before pushing the glasses from the tip of his nose back in front of his eyes. "You have traveled today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills and when you have finished you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people." Jaune felt a warm sense of pride hearing that. The exact reason he agreed to come to Beacon in the first place. "But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy. In need of purpose, direction, you assume knowledge will free you of this."

He looked down, letting his sharp gaze scan over the crowd.

"But your time at this school will show you that knowledge will only carry you so far." Jaune looked down at that, he looked to the side and was once more reminding himself he didn't deserve to be in such a legendary school, he tried to summon the courage to crush his lack of confidence when the second teacher came up and told them they would be going to stay in the main hall to sleep on assembled cots before dorm rooms were given to them after their initiation.

Jaune stood there lost in thought until he felt someone tap on his shoulder, turning around he saw it was a teacher handing out slips of paper telling him what his locker number was going to be. Deciding to check it out he went to the lockers for first year students to get used to where it was supposed to be. He spent the better part of his time searching the school before he found his locker and was busy putting Crocea Mors in when he heard Weiss start speaking next to him.

"So Pyrrha, have you given any thought on whose team you would like to be on?" Jaune closed his locker and turned to see Weiss talking to a beautiful girl with red hair tied in a ponytail that went down to her waist and vivid green eyes. She wore a bronze circlet headpiece that can be seen above her ear and under her bangs and she also sported a large bronze gorget around her neck. Her top consisted of two layers. The top layer was a light-brown leather strapless top split into two vertically with some metallic bronze armor. The bottom layer is a low bronze V-neck. Pyrrha wears an elastic red colored A-line miniskirt that ended at the middle of her thigh and brown cut-off sleeves on both arms. She was also wearing a red ankle-length drapery that appears to be wrapped around her skirt.

Pyrrha rolled her eyes, carefully tilting her head to make Weiss unable to see it. "Hmm. I'm not quite sure." She said as she saw Jaune looking her way. "I was planning on letting the chips fall where they may."

"Well I was thinking maybe we could be on a team together?" Jaune was sure he heard a hint of nervousness in Weiss's voice as she asked this.

"I think that would be grand!" Pyrrha said, Weiss smiled and briefly turned around to see Jaune looking at her curiously.

"Oh! This is must be fate at work here! The legendary warrior Pyrrha Nikos, and the Heir to the Arc warrior family. Jaune you should join our team, together nothing could stand against us!" Weiss said excitedly as she pulled Jaune by the arm over to stand closer to her, Jaune gave a forced laugh and scratched the back of his head at that.

"Well I am unsure how teams will be picked so I think I will wait and see before that, it was nice to see you again, Weiss." Jaune said before he held his hand out to Pyrrha.

"Hi there, my name is Jaune." He said with a smile as she shook his hand, and had to hold back a wince at the strong grip she had. "You are?" he said and saw on closer look that she also wore light-green eye shadow around the far, upper-corners of her eyes.

"This is Pyrrha Nikos." Weiss said before Pyrrha could get a word in edge wise. "Winner of the Mistral region tournament, for four years in a row."

"The what?" The smug satisfied look on Weiss's face vanished when he said that.

"It set a new record around all of the kingdoms! She is one of the most famous huntresses in training of our generation. She even was put on the front of the Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow flakes cereal."

"Sorry, I never had it; I had to hunt for my food where I lived."

"Hunt? I thought the Arc was a family of famous Huntsman and Huntresses, surely you could afford to buy your own food?" Weiss said with visible surprise, something Pyrrha shared as they looked at him expectantly.

"Yeah, turns out having a famous last name doesn't exactly bring home money, I got shipped off to the academy at Signal since my parents couldn't afford to keep me clothed and fed." Jaune said with a small amount of embarrassment.

"Surely they could find more work?" Weiss offered.

"No, all the businesses in town were controlled by a subset of the Schnee Dust Company and refused to hire them."

"Why is that?" Pyrrha asked as Weiss looked away from the two of them, Jaune didn't notice or pay any mind to the pale white dressed girl and focused on the red head before him.

"They protested against the immoral labor practices endured by Faunas that the company uses." It was getting dark out Jaune noticed as he saw Weiss had walked over to the nearby window. "Well it was nice meeting you Pyrrha! I hope I see you again in the future, maybe we could spare sometime?"

"I think I would like that, I look forward to seeing you again Jaune." Pyrrha said before they both went their separate ways. Jaune went back to his locker and pulled out his sleeping clothes, seeing the new shirt and pants his father bought him. His father took the one piece blue jumpsuit his mother made for him the years before after learning Jaune wanted to bring it with him to Signal.

"A grown man shouldn't wear children's clothes!" He said before giving Jaune the new sleeping attire and his old coat, a black hoodless coat that Jaune wore under his armor right now. Taking the clothes and putting the memory away he went to change into them as the boys had been warned not to try and change clothes in front of the girls before tomorrow when supposedly teams would be decided, Jaune heard this in passing from many of the fellow first years but no teacher would comment on it when he asked them.

He fell asleep easily even with a few girls yelling somewhere nearby and woke up well rested, he was glad he did as he was sure he would need everything he would get for the tests to come. He went back to his locker and grabbed his clothes, armor, and Crocea Mors, bumping into Pyrrha on the way there.

"Hey Pyrrha!" He said in way of greeting as he waved at the red haired girl who had also come to get her battle gear seeing as she wore a pair of yellow and red pajamas.

"Hello Jaune!" She said with a smile and waved back at him as he put his gear in a bag to carry. "Are you ready for the trials today?" she asked as she grabbed her armor as well and stopped so they could talk more.

"A little? I am actually very nervous about it." Jaune said with a sheepish laugh.

"You have to have some strength to be here." She commented. "I think you will be fine Jaune, You seem like a strong person to me." She said before the intercom came on and told them that the first year students were going to be meeting at Beacon Cliff for initiation. Both of them quickly made their farewells and raced to the changing areas. Jaune was racing up to the Hill with a few of the other students and found himself standing on a metallic square pad in the grass with the Beacon logo on it.

Professor Ozpin and his fellow teacher Jaune learned to be named Glynda Goodwitch stood before him, Jaune was the last one to arrive and looked down the line of people to see Ruby and Yang stood close to him. Behind them stood a pair of men, one broad in dark plate armor with brown hair and the other wearing a formal green and black shirt wielding a pair of bladed pistols, behind him stood an orange haired woman who was playing with a butterfly and a serious man with a Mohawk and behind him were Weiss and Pyrrha. Jaune turned back to the two teachers as Ozpin began to speak.

"For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." Glynda stepped forward pulling out a small data pad.

"Now I am sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams," She said with her eyes scanning up and down the line. "Well allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates, _today_." Jaune looked over to Ruby as she made a noise of discomfort hearing that.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon so it is imperative that you find someone you will work well with. That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years." Jaune glanced at Professor Ozpin, swearing to himself he heard some kind of amusement in the older man's voice.

"What?!" Ruby exclaimed with a good deal of shock and sadness. Jaune felt bad as He imagined that she must have wanted to be paired up with her older sister Yang.

"After you have paired up, make your way to the northern end of the forest." Ozpin continued on, not at all registering Ruby or anyone else's outbursts at the announcement. "You will meet opposition along the way, do not hesitate to destroy anything in your path or you _will_ die." Jaune suppressed a shudder and tightened his hold on his sword pommel after hearing the surety in the professor's tone before his mind registered something else.

"_Landing? What did he mean by landing?" _Jaune wondered before looking at the platform he now stood on and back to the forest ahead of him. _"Oh no…."_

"You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation, but our instructors _will not_ intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the edge of the path containing several relics, each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff." He took a step forward to look at all the students assembled before him now. "You will guard that that item as well as your standing while we grade you all appropriately throughout the trials. Are there any questions?"

"Um, yeah, sir?" Jaune began to raise his hand only for Ozpin to cut him off.

"Good, now take your positions." Jaune's question died in his throat and he turned to see the other students taking up positions on their platforms before one by one they were being sent flying as it catapulted them into the air toward the forest. He unsheathed his sword and activated his shield as Yang was catapulted forward and shook in anticipation after Ruby flew away, her red cape fluttering behind her as she sailed through the air.

He heard gears activate below him and tensed before being shot off the ground and into the air. He held his shield before him and channeled his aura to it as he came down on a pair of trees, easily smashing through them in an explosion of wooden splinters and smashing through a tree behind the first two before he stabbed his sword into the third tree, having slowed down enough to strike cleanly.

Jaune hung in the air and looked down he wasn't too far up so he put his feet on the tree and pushed off, flipping in midair to land on his feet, he took in his surroundings as his father taught him when they went hunting back when he lived with them.

He heard heavy steps approaching him and turned to see a three Ursa appear before him, a larger Major Ursa with two Lesser following it.

The two Lesser Ursa charged him after the major gave a low grunt. He held his ground and raised his shield to block a swipe of the Grimm's claws before lashing out with his sword and cutting it across the arm and ducking under the second Ursa as it lunged at him letting it smash headfirst into the tree he came down from. The first one had lunged at him with both arms ready to attack only for Jaune to leap forward with his shield up and ready to strike it in the face before sliding under it and placing his shield on its chest and shoving it up making it spin end over end and disappearing into the tree line.

The Major Ursa stood by watching as the Lesser fought Jaune, but he kept his back away from it not willing to risk it taking a lucky shot at him when the first Ursa got up and came running at him full force. It slowed down and raised its claw up to hit him only for Jaune to sidestep the attack before bashing into in the face with his shield and finishing it with a swift jab through the throat. He heard a cry of rage from the Major and remaining Lesser Ursa. He saw the Major getting ready to attack and jumped as he heard the Lesser running behind him, coming down just in time to land on its back Jaune stabbed it through the back of the neck killing it.

He jumped away just as the Major closed in swinging wildly and full of rage as it howled at him, he back pedaled as it swung keeping his shield and sword up ready to fight until he felt his back smack against a tree. Eyes going wide with dawning horror he moved his shield to block the first claw and slashed at the second one severing it from the creature's arm but was left vulnerable as its mouth opened up and came down to bite his head most likely off his shoulders.

He tried to push it away only to stop as it went rigid suddenly and fell to the side after he gave it a hard shove with his shield. Pyrrha stood before him as the creature fell with a warm smile.

"I guess we are a team now." She said as her spear flew back into her hand, smile still on her face as Jaune cut the Major Ursa's head off when it rose again to attack him.

"I had it under control." Jaune said with a grin. "But thanks! I am glad we are on a team." He said with a smile as he walked over to her just as he stood before her they heard a large roar in the distance.

"Guess that must be north." Jaune said as they heard the sound of explosions in the distance.

"Our comrades must have found the enemy." Pyrrha said in agreement and nodded to Jaune before her spear sword transformed into a carbine rifle as her shield went onto her back and took the lead as Jaune watched her back.

**Well that is my first chapter of the first RWBY story I have ever done, I hope you all enjoyed it! I was worried I didn't get Jaune's character right in this as he will have been properly trained at combat school****.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2…. well I hope you all enjoy it as much as the first one!**

**Time for a guest review section.**

**To Jack Crowder: Thank you, I am glad you liked it, I hope you like this chapter even more.**

**Stand and Fight!**

Jaune was still walking behind Pyrrha, eyes trained to keep watch of the ground they traveled through when he noticed a cave entrance in the cliff way near them had markings drawn on it.

"Pyrrha, hold up." Jaune said as he turned to walk over to the cave entrance, Pyrrha following close behind. "Do you think this is it?" He asked before taking a close look at the drawings, it was a crude picture of a group of people with spears and bows attacking what looked to be a giant scorpion.

"Maybe?" She commented looking into the pitch black darkness. Jaune deactivated his shield before he broke off a branch from a nearby tree and used a few tools from one of the pouches on his belt to make a torch out of it and headed into the tunnel.

"I'm not sure this is it…" Pyrrha said looking around the dank dripping tunnel they walked down. Jaune sighed and stopped to turn to face her.

"Pyrrha, I made the torch." He said gesturing to the flaming object in his hand. "Can you humor for at least five more feet? I never got to use my pouches till now!" He said before taking a wrong step on a loose rock that crumbled under his foot making him fall face forward on the ground, the torch flying from his hand and landing in a puddle of water instantly putting the fire out.

"Ok…. You win cave…" Jaune said with a grunt as he pulled his leg out of the hole in the ground and stood up. He could vaguely see Pyrrha so he moved closer to her.

"Do you feel that?" Pyrrha asked suddenly looking past him and down the tunnel. Jaune sighed and shut his eyes in annoyance.

"What? My soul crushing regret?" He offered. Pyrrha paid the comment no mind and continued on.

"No. it's….._warm_." Jaune raised an eyebrow before he felt the same as her.

"Yeah…Wait… I think I see something." Jaune said with a whisper as he pulled activated his shield to cover his advance toward the glowing object in the distance. Pyrrha followed him with Milo in hand unsure of what Jaune was planning to do until she saw the glowing object as well. "Do you think this is the relic?" He asked turning to face his partner as they stood before a bright glowing object.

"I don't think so. Professor Ozpin said it would be in the ruins of a temple." Pyrrha said before gesturing to the dark cave they stood in. "This doesn't look like the ruins of a temple." Jaune nodded to her in agreement but reached out to touch the large glowing object regardless of her observation.

Only it jumped back from his touch. "Pyrrha," He said as he recalled the object's shape was similar to the stinger of that scorpion painted on the entrance to the cave. "I have a feeling this isn't the artifact." He said morbidly as he started to step back before a pair of red eyes the size of his head opened to look at them, judging by the size of the creature's eyes he knew he was too close to something as big as it had to be.

"Run!" Pyrrha shouted before she and Jaune turned to dash to the entrance of the cave and the outside world. Jaune and Pyrrha both thinking on how bad an idea fighting in an enclosed space would be against such a massive creature, Jaune felt the ground tremble and heard the thunderous movements as the creature came after the two of them reaffirming his desire to fight in open ground. They had just crossed the threshold of the cave and into the light of the outside world. Both Jaune and Pyrrha stopped and turned to look at the cave entrance to see that nothing was following them.

"I think we're ok." Jaune said and immediately cursed himself for it when he saw a massive Death Stalker smash through the wall surrounding the cave, judging by the scars and moss growing on its armor it must have been a very old Grimm monster and the older a Grimm was the stronger they were going to be. "Whoa." Jaune said as he marveled at the sight of the massive creature before them.

"Jaune, let's go!" Pyrrha shouted as she transformed Milo into its carbine form and began to open fire on the Death Stalker before giving up and turning it back to its sword form as she saw her bullets had been stopped by the thick armor shell that shielded the Grimm creature, Jaune nodded and ran to her just as she turned around and the two of them ran to the forest ahead hoping to slow it down in the trees.

"It's gaining on us!" Jaune shouted after turning his head to see the Death Stalker was catching up to the two of them. "The trees!" he said right as they entered the forest tree line, he used his sword to cut through the trunk of one of the trees making it fall over in front of the Grimm slowing it down as the tree landed on its head. Pyrrha took up the tactic as well and the two of them began to cut down trees they passed by sending them falling onto or infront of the Death Stalker slowing its advance. Jaune saw that there was a clearing up ahead of them and turned to tell Pyrrha only to let the words die in his throat as he saw the Death Stalker was no longer slowed down by the trees and had leapt forward to attack, it's pincer closing in on Pyrrha's unprotected side as she turned to face him.

He didn't think as he activated his shield and jumped toward her blocking the pincer with it and was send flying over his partner and above the trees, he crashing in the remains of what could have been a temple at one point.

"Jaune?" he heard Yang's voice call out and opened his eyes, not seeing the blond boxer he turned his head toward the ruins themselves and saw her standing next to the girl dressed in black.

"Hey Yang…" Jaune groaned as he rose to his feet. The second he stood up he heard a voice cry out and was sent face first into the dirt again.

"Sorry Jaune!" He heard Ruby's voice as the weight got off his back and he muttered something into the dirt a young girl like Ruby shouldn't hear. Rising again he was helped to his feet by Ruby and Yang just as a Lesser Ursa came out of the trees roaring at them only to fall over after a large explosion struck it from behind and they all saw the girl from before that had wielded the large Warhammer standing on its back.

"Aww, I broke it." She pouted before running over to the dead Ursa and jumping up and down on it just as the man that had the dual wield blade pistols appeared at her side panting heavily.

"Nora… please don't ever do that again." He said after he caught his breath only to look up and see she had already moved over to the ruins and took her piece. Jaune ignored them and looked back the way he was sent from and was about to go back to help Pyrrha when he saw her run from out of the forest with the Death Stalker not far behind before it struck at her and sent her flying as she turned to block it's pincer with her shield. He was about to help her up when he heard the sound of a bird cawing and looked up to see what had to be a giant Nevermore circling them.

"_Well this day just keeps getting better and better!"_ He thought to himself before he went to aid Pyrrha only to stop as the Nevermore rained a large amount of quills down on Ruby who was running away from the now charging Death Stalker, two quills had pinned her red cape to the ground and left her trapped for the Death Stalker to strike her with its stinger.

"Pyrrha!" He said helping the red haired fighter to her feet before activating his shield and running to cover Ruby with Pyrrha not far behind. He stopped as he saw Weiss shoot ahead of him and create a wall of ice to stop the stinger from hitting her. Leaving Ruby to Weiss's care Jaune looked up to see the Nevermore was coming back around to bombard them again.

"We have to get out of here, this will only keep the Death Stalker held for so long and the Nevermore is coming around to attack." He said as the group nodded, Jaune saw that Pyrrha had grabbed a Rook chess piece from the temple ruins and held it up for him to see.

"So we all good?" Yang asked, Jaune nodded and as one the group dashed away from the temple to get away from the Death Stalker before it broke free. They made their way to a larger set of ruins and were forced to take cover behind pillars as the Nevermore caught up with them and rained another barrage of quills down on them.

"Oh that's great." Yang remarked with annoyance as the Nevermore perched itself before the bridge the needed to cross and blocked their path. Jaune was about to say something when he heard a large crash and turned to see the Death Stalker had gotten free and was charging at them again.

"Run!" He shouted and wasted no time waiting as he and the others all made a mad dash from the bridge, Nora fired off a few rounds from her grenade launcher at the Nevermore to distract it and keep it from unleashing a volley of quills at them while the others came close to the bridge. Jaune was about to cross when Pyrrha stopped to help fire on the Death Stalker again to help Nora and the others cross.

As he crossed with the others the Nevermore swung back around and smashed the pillars holding the stone bridge up trapping Pyrrha, and two of the others on the other side.

"Nora! We gotta get back over there." Jaune said as he saw his partner now being attacked by the Death Stalker.

"Let's do this!" she said with determination before running ahead of him and transforming her grenade launcher into a Warhammer and raising it to smash the part of the bridge they now stood on.

"Wait! I think there might be a safer waaaaay!" Jaune tried to protest only for her to spin around and smash the edge of her Warhammer on the bridge sending Jaune catapulting across to the other side before laughing as she rode across on the force of another explosion. Jaune landed on his feet and saw the pistol wielder charging at the Grimm beast before he ran with him, using his shield to cover him from an attacking Pincer as Pyrrha blocked the other with her own shield letting the man run up the creature's tail and begin to rapidly fire into the base of the stinger. Nora fired off a grenade to daze the Death Stalker enough for Jaune and Pyrrha to jump back but in the process made it shake the other man loose and send him smashing into the back of a pillar.

"Ren!" Nora cried out in worry for her friend as she saw him fall to the ground. Jaune noticed what Ren was trying to do as he saw the Death Stalker's stinger was coming off from all the damage it had took.

"Pyrrha!" He shouted to his partner over the roar of the Death Stalker and pointing with his sword to the damaged stinger, Pyrrha tossed her shield at the creature and sliced its stinger off completely letting it embed itself in the Grimm creature's head. "Nora nail it!" He yelled turning back to the violently explosive woman who smiled widely as she ran over to Pyrrha and jumped on top of her as she reclaimed her Shield and used the force of an explosive round to propel herself in the air before firing another at the height of her jump sending her spinning end over end and smashing the rest of the stinger into the Death Stalker's head killing it. Ren walked over to them as they made their way off the broken remnant of the bridge and collapsed before Nora went over to him.

"Ren, are you ok?" She asked with worry just as the Nevermore swooped by and unleashed a volley of quills at them before going to attack the four girls trapped on the main temple ruins. Jaune and Pyrrha moved to shield Ren and Nora who couldn't move in time they deflected all the quills but Jaune was unfortunate enough to have two strike him, one slicing his leg and the other striking him with a glancing blow in the shoulder as he was using his shield to cover Ren more than himself.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha said as she went over to him and helped him to his feet. "How bad is it?" She asked looking at his bleeding wounds with visible concern. Jaune smiled at that before groaning in pain.

"Nothing too bad, I'll live." He said but accepted her help none the less after deactivating and sheathing Crocea Mors. I think we can head back to the school now, what about you two?" he asked as they walked over to Nora and Ren as the Former helped the latter stand up again.

"I think that is a good idea." Ren said in agreement as Nora let him go to stand on his own. Jaune laughed as Pyrrha did the same and they walked away after watching in awe as Ruby and Yang's group beheaded the Nevermore. Jaune began to wince with each step and noticed his wound was still bleeding.

"Hold up." He said as he pulled out a bandage roll and began tying it around his leg after disinfecting the wound, grateful to his dad for teaching him how to do this when he was growing up.

"Are you alright, Jaune?" Pyrrha asked with worry in her voice and eyes as she, Nora and Ren looked to him bandaging his leg.

"I'm ok, just need to stop the bleeding, my Aura can heal it after that."

"Your Aura can heal your wounds?" Pyrrha asked with visible surprise as Jaune caught up with them no longer bothered by his leg. His Aura must be working faster than even he thought as he didn't feel the pain in his leg at all now as they moved back through the forest. Pyrrha held up her hand making the group halt after they entered the trees, Ren having to silence Nora by putting a hand on her shoulder as she tried to chase after a pair of butterflies.

"What is it?" Jaune asked before unsheathing his sword and activating his shield as dozens of Lesser Ursa and Beowulf charged at them through the trees. Nora and Ren intercepted the Beowulfs on the left while Jaune and Pyrrha turned to the Ursa coming at them from the right. Jaune ducked under the swing of an Ursa and raised his shield to block its other paw before stabbing it in the chest and kicking it away, instantly turning to his side as Pyrrha put her back to his to block an Ursa from attacking with his shield. "Guess they thought they could get the scraps from the Death Stalker." Jaune said before he slashed at the Ursa trying to get to Pyrrha who was using the carbine form of Milo to open fire at the Ursa and drive them back.

"It would seem so. Shame they are going to die for nothing." He heard Ren comment as he quickly stabbed a Beowulf in the eyes before firing two automatic bursts into its chest. Jaune said nothing as two Beowulfs charge at him trying to get to Pyrrha who was forcing the Ursa back into the woods, unlike the Death Stalker they had no protection against her carbine shots and were being cut down rapidly. He charged forward smashing his shield into the chest of one of the Beowulfs knocking it to the ground before he cut its head off and rolled off the body as the second one slashed at his back once he was on his back Jaune swung at the Beowulf's unprotected legs and cut them off at the shin sending it falling to its back with a howl of pain and anger before he silenced it with a sword thrust to the heart. He got back to his feet and saw that most of the Ursa had been driven away by Pyrrha's carbine while Nora and Ren had finished off the last of the Beowulfs.

"Well that wasn't so bad." Jaune said as Ren walked back over to them while Nora skipped around on the balls of her feet, Jaune was starting to wonder where she was getting so much energy from before he saw Pyrrha turning Milo back into its sword form.

"I believe that is the last of them." She said with a confident smile, Jaune smiled back and turned to make their way back to the cliffs where they had to turn the relics in.

"Let's get out of here; they might come back with bigger numbers if we wait here too long." Jaune said before they all moved out as a group. "I hope Ruby's group makes it out of there." He mentioned idly as they started to climb over a hill. "Oh you have got to be kidding me!" He groaned seeing dozens if not a hundred Beowulfs just below the hill, Nora, Ren, and Pyrrha readying their weapons the horde that now turned to face them before they opened fire, Nora's grenade launcher disrupting the larger clusters of Beowulfs while Ren and Pyrrha shot down the ones that came close to them. Jaune paused as he felt a drop of something wet land on his cheek and noticed it was beginning to rain. Looking back to the horde he saw that the majority of the Beowulfs had managed to come in close as Pyrrha turned her weapon back into its sword form. Jaune charged with her and the others into the horde smashing right down the middle, He bashed one of the Beowulfs aside with his shield before smashing another across the face with the pommel of his sword and slicing its head clean off before ducking as another slashed at him from behind, crouching Jaune put his shield between him and the Beowulf and lifted it up and over his shoulder to send it flying behind him.

Pyrrha jumped over his head and stabbed the Beowulf in the chest before spinning around to stab at another one trying to ambush Jaune from behind as he covered her from behind. Jaune had just cut down a Beowulf and pushed another away with his shield when one of them bit down on his sword arm making him drop the blade as he cried out in pain from the bite. Pyrrha came to his aid and stabbed the Beowulf in the side making it release him Jaune winced as it let go of his arm and grabbed his sword again, his aura already working to heal his wound so he could fight on. This was not the time to falter and let his partner down.

He grunted with exertion as he smashed the edge of his shield against the face of a Beowulf that tried to bite Pyrrha before slashing it across the chest sending it scurrying away. Jaune noted with some satisfaction that over half the Beowulfs they started the battle against had retreated or fallen in battle. Just as thought of this he saw Nora in the sky with her Warhammer raised to smash on the ground, he jumped back as she used her grenade launcher to explode the ground it struck on contact making a large shockwave sending him and five Beowulfs flying away, landing on his back a Beowulf attacked and pounced on his chest moving to disembowel him after clawing him across the face before he was able to smash it in the face with his shield disorienting it and stabbed it in the chest before he kicked it off with both his feet. Another Beowulf moved to attack him only to be sent flying away as Nora smashed it in the face with her Warhammer.

"Thanks!" He said as she lifted him to his feet, he felt the blood dripping down his cheek courtesy of the Beowful's claws and felt his Aura closing the wounds on his face. Looking around he saw that Pyrrha and Ren had finished off the last of the Grimm monsters and were moving toward them, Ren had a few gouges on his arm and sleeve from one of the creatures while Pyrrha had a glancing scratch on her shoulder.

"So," Jaune began as the four of them regrouped "Everyone okay?" He asked as he wiped some of the blood off his face.

"I think you got it worse than we did." Ren remarked as he cleaned the claw mark on his arm, Jaune began to glow a faint white as his wounds all sealed up and healed completely. "Never mind." The Dual gun wielding huntsman in training said as Nora appeared at his side fretting over his injury as Jaune walked over to Pyrrha and placed a hand on his injured shoulder, his hand glowed intensely as he used his Aura to heal her wound he pulled it away revealing a scar free shoulder with no sign of the wound from before.

"Thank you, Jaune!" Pyrrha said before embracing him in a hug, the wound must have hurt her more than she let on if she was this happy to have it healed. "Your Aura is very helpful for a Huntsman to have." She said with a smile as she let him go.

"Hehe, yeah well I guess we should get moving." He said before he went to go and heal the wound on Ren's arm to which the dark haired man nodded in appreciation. They moved out of the field of Beowulf corpses and made their way to a cliff side that stood between them and the Beacon cliff top.

"Well it's good I'm afraid of heights." Jaune joked as they all holstered their weapons and began to climb slowly up the cliff. After a few moments Jaune reached the top and pulled himself over the edge before he held his hand out to Pyrrha who gratefully accepted the help as he lifted her over the edge. He went to help Nora and Ren only to see they had already gotten up as he helped Pyrrha.

"Congratulations." They turned to see Professor Goodwitch standing before them, the data pad still in hand as she looked at them. "You are the second group to arrive." Part of Jaune was disappointed at not coming first but he care much for that, he and his new friends had been through a hell of a day and he was glad they all made it back safely and in one piece.

"Thank you Professor." Pyrrha said respectfully before Jaune and Nora each took out the white rook pieces and gave them to their teacher. She made a small noise of acknowledgment and they slowly left taking that as a sign of their dismissal. The four of them made their way back to the school and were escorted back by a pair of teachers; the walk was mostly silent save for Nora who had an untapped reservoir of energy to bounce around the group talking about how good they all were as a team.

Jaune smiled as Ren tried to calm her down before turning to Pyrrha as they were led to the main hall where they first encountered Professor Ozpin who now stood on the stage waiting for the rest of the teams to arrive. Jaune looked to see the four men ahead of them with smug satisfied faces, two of them he recognized from before as the brown haired man in full plate and the man with the horrible light green Mohawk. He assumed they had to be the first team to arrive, judging by the lack of scars or torn clothing they didn't encounter any resistance on the way back from the cliffs.

"So I guess we just wait for the others to get here." Pyrrha commented as she sat down on a nearby bench. Jaune walked over to her and joined her on the bench.

"I think you're right." He said lightly as he stretched his back. "So what now?" He finished, looking right into her eyes. Pyrrha gave a small humming noise as she looked up at the ceiling in thought.

"I'm not sure; I think we will have to wait until the end of the initiation to learn what happens next." She said after a moment of thought. She then turned to look back at him with a smile. "But I think whatever happens we can handle it." She said with confidence before placing a hand on his shoulder. Jaune smiled warmly.

"I think you're right. I'm glad we're on a team together, Pyrrha." Jaune said before the last group returned led by Ruby and Yang with Weiss and the mystery girl following close behind them.

"All students please come forward for team assignment." Ozpin said over the speaker system. Jaune and Pyrrha stood up and made their way over to the group heading toward the stage Ozpin now stood on.

"Russell Thrush, Cardin Winchester, Dove Bronzewing, and Sky Lark," Professor Ozpin said as the four men all stepped forward to line up before him. "The four of you retrieved the Black Bishop pieces, from this day forward you will work together as Team CRDL." A screen above Ozpin showed face pictures of the four boys with the first letter of all their first names under each photo. "Led by Cardin Winchester." None of the four made a single noise of acknowledgment or joy at their team being assembled which made Jaune think they didn't care for or work well together. They all left the stage and the screen cleared.

"Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, and Nora Valkyrie," The four of them made their way forward with Ren managing to keep Nora from skipping around them in circles somehow as they stood before the white haired headmaster. "The four of you retrieved the White Rook pieces. From this day forward you will be known as Team JNPR." He said before sipping from the seemingly ever present mug of coffee. "Led by Jaune Arc." Jaune's eyes shot wide open hearing this.

Him leader of the team? Impossible he wasn't worthy of that! Before he could voice his opinion he felt Pyrrha playfully punched him in the shoulder in congratulation as Nora and Ren looked to him in appreciation. He swallowed the desire to tell them he wasn't worthy of leading them seeing how they showed him they believed he was exactly that before they all exited the stage to let Ruby and Yang's group take the stage being the last four students to make it.

"Congratulations young man." Professor Ozpin said as they walked past him. "And finally, Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao Long," Jaune stopped hearing the name Schnee and looked to see the girl in all white standing next to Ruby and Yang, his eyes narrowed for a second before turning around and following his team out of the main hall to where Professor Goodwitch stood waiting for them.

"Team JNPR, here is your new dorm room number, you have the first two days to become acquainted with each other and your new surroundings before school will begin. Good luck." She said with what could have passed for a smile before she sent them on their way.

"Hurry Ren! We have to find our room." Nora said grabbing her friend by the elbow and running down the hall literally dragging him behind her. Pyrrha and Jaune just laughed quietly at her antics as they followed at a slower pace.

"Do you think she will come back once she realizes we have the room number and directions?" Pyrrha asked as Jaune looked at the piece of paper Professor Goodwitch gave him.

"Ren can get her to come back once she stops dragging him." He said with another laugh before they walked in silence and soon found their room.

"Wow." Jaune said as he opened the door with the key he was given and saw it was a decent sized dorm room with four beds, a bathroom and four identical desks for them all to do work on. "They even brought our luggage here already." Jaune remarked as he saw that each bed had a pair of suitcases laid out on it.

"We have a fridge and a stove." Pyrrha commented as she went to look about the room. Jaune whistled at that before he sat down on his bed.

"I'll be back in a few minutes Pyrrha, going to try and find Ren and Nora before she gets into trouble." Jaune said with a smirk before which made Pyrrha let out a short laugh. His smirked died as he turned away from her and walked out the door.

Ozpin sat back into his chair and picked up his cup of tea, preparing to unwind from the events of the day. He was interrupted by a knock on his door, making him sigh somewhat regretfully.

"Come in." He said evenly. If he was surprised to see Jaune Arc walk in at this late hour, he didn't show it. "How may I help you young man?"

Jaune sat down in the chair across from Ozpin and looked towards the ground for a moment before looking up with a bit of resolve in his eyes.

"I'm not sure you chose the right leader for team JNPR." His voice carried a hint of his uncertainty.

Ozpin raised an eyebrow, and then chuckled a bit.

"This is the fastest anyone has come to me questioning my decision in making them a leader." He said, still chuckling lightly. "You were only appointed leader a mere hour ago, are you sure you don't want to at least try to fill the role?"

Jaune looked down once more.

"I don't think I'd make a good leader." Jaune said after a few seconds of silence. "Pyrrha or Lie Ren would probably do better at the job; they are both smarter and more skilled than I am."

"Smarter? Possibly But I watched your performance in the forest Jaune, You are as skilled as they are in combat. You are right though, either one of them would make a good leader." Ozpin said, taking a sip of his tea. "But I believe you are the only one on your team with the potential to become a _great_ leader."

"But-" Jaune started to protest before Ozpin got up from his seat.

"Let me tell you something a good friend said to me once before." He said as he faced the window looking out on the landscape. "Anyone who says they are ready to be a leader is lying through their teeth."

Jaune just sat silent as he sensed Ozpin wished to continue this line of thought.

"This friend was my team leader back when we were still training to be hunters and he was without a doubt the best leader I've ever met in all my life." He paused to take another sip of coffee. "You remind me a lot of him actually. Like you, he was so much more sure of himself on the battlefield. Even if perhaps, that's not where he would have preferred to be." That part made Jaune's eyebrows rise in interest.

"The point is," He turned back to Jaune and looked him in the eye. "No one truly knows they are ready to lead until they are given a leading role. It is up to you to step up and fill that role."

Jaune gave a sigh and nodded. Ozpin gave a small smile as he sat back down and picked up a book that had sat on his table and opened it to a page he had previously marked. Taking this as a dismissal, Jaune got up from his chair and moved to exit the office. He paused at the door as a final question occurred to him.

"Professor, what does your old team leader do these days? Is he still a Huntsman?" Ozpin looked up from his book and the smile fled from his face. His eyes gained a sad, sunken look to them.

"No, he died a long time ago." He stated simply. Jaune had expected this, but it still struck him. He took this as a final dismissal and exited the office.

**And this is chapter two done; I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did! Please do review the story, I like to hear feedback about my story.**


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